Can you really get free website hosting?

Website hosting companies are far from rare on the internet, and all of them claim to be the best value for money, but now and then you hear about free web hosting. Does this really exist and if so what do you get for free?

The simple answer is YES - There is such thing as free web hosting, but you really have to look at what you are getting and what your website requirements are.

Perhaps you’d like to get your feet wet in the ocean that is, the Internet. Having your own website has become essential for small and large businesses alike, and extremely beneficial for a plethora of other reasons (freelancing, CVs, portfolios, services…), everybody could use one. To have your own website, it needs to be hosted in some way, whether that be through a website building service, entering shared hosting, even going all out and purchasing your own server for the site to be hosted from. If your site isn’t hosted nobody will be able to access it, apart from yourself, which isn’t very useful for getting your / your business’ name out there!

Everybody has to get started somewhere, so wouldn’t it make sense to practice producing and managing a website without spending any money? Luckily, there are ways to host your website for free, no strings attached. Unfortunately, this does mean you will have to compromise massively on features, uptime and connection speed, meaning these solutions are hardly suitable for anyone who is expecting any sort of sustained traffic. Also, all of the options are such that the published domain can only be accessed as a subdomain of the company you choose, for example, yourwebsitename.hostingcompanyfree.com. Also, it is likely to be plastered with intrusive Ads.

Some website builder companies offer free web hosting as part of their free accounts, which is a great option for practicing website building / managing because you can also enhance your web design skills. In general, website building packages cover many more aspects of website management, for example adding a store and tracking the site’s performance. This means that for a starter who’d like to practice, it is far better to go through a website builder to get your free hosting.

Website builders are by far the best way to get free web hosting (if you count this as hosting)

Another option is to choose a free hosting company or use a free account on a bigger hosting company, in which you point another site you have already created towards the subdomain supplied by the host.

To summarize, where and how you get the free hosting really depends on what the website / experience will be used for. If you want free hosting to get your website off the ground, it will be a different scenario than if you want to get some experience with website management! First, you should think about what you are building it for, and more importantly what you need / would like to optimize, this will help you get more out of the free website hosting experience.

It is possible to host a website for free, but before you jump at the first opportunity, do some research as to which option is more worth your time. Despite the fact there is no monetary cost, you’re still spending time

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